This Magnificent Bird Will Rise (Live from Berlin)

Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a stark, almost apocalyptic picture, opening with a trumpet's "awful sound" that scatters "over the graves of all lands." This sets a tone of judgment and reckoning, where "Death and mankind shall be stunned" as nature itself "arises to give account before the judge." It's a powerful, if abstract, vision of a cosmic trial where the natural world acts as the accuser. The bulk of the song, however, is comprised of wordless vocables – "Tu-tu-tu," "Tu-u-u-u-u-uba," and "Ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba ba." This deliberate absence of concrete language transforms the initial pronouncements into something more primal and elemental. The "nature" that arises isn't speaking in human terms; it's communicating through pure sound, a universal language that bypasses specific meaning for raw emotional or spiritual expression. The spoken outro, featuring Greg Saunier, humorously grounds the abstract pronouncements of the intro. The interaction about a shouted comment, whether it was "good" or not, and the subsequent attempt to repeat it in German ("drei gesangen der... auf... neue album Miracle-Level, jetzt") highlights a disconnect between the grand, almost divine pronouncements and the messy, sometimes awkward reality of live performance and audience interaction. It's a fascinating juxtaposition of the sublime and the mundane. This contrast is precisely what makes the lyrics so compelling. The initial, weighty pronouncements about judgment and nature's reckoning are given an unexpected weight by being followed by pure vocalizations and then a self-aware, almost comical, spoken interlude. The effectiveness lies in this sonic and thematic whiplash, suggesting that even the most profound pronouncements can be filtered through human experience, performance, and even a bit of playful confusion.